Count on them to provide visitors with animal magic
CHEEKY parrots, giddy lemurs and an elephant calf named Scott were all present and correct when I went along to Whipsnade Zoo as they conducted their annual animal count last Tuesday, writes Richard Redman.
Our guided tour of the stock check began in the Discovery Centre – home to tropical reptiles, amphibians and insects – where I was witness to my new favourite-ever warning sign, ‘Mind your head: low-flying butterflies’.
Here we were shown a hamster-sized stick insect, proudly displayed atop a zookeeper’s head.
With its front four legs outstretched in all directions – the friendly phasmid pointed towards an enjoyable morning.
Whipsnade Zoo is home to no less than ten lemurs, and each of the primates were just as excitable as the next when it comes to sultanas.
To get their fix of dried fruit, the ringtailed Madagascar natives harangued and clambered over handler Kathy Doherty as we tried to interview her.
She said: “It’s a non-breeding group of ten males.
“It’s really a genetic reservoir, so if there are any other zoos throughout the country or Europe that would like to start a new breeding programme they can give us a call, and we can send one of our males to start a new breeding group.”
The lemurs dived around the enclosure like five-year-olds high on Haribo, a blur of black and grey fur that I thought could make this stock check difficult.
Kathy said: “They can be quite difficult to count, because we have quite a spacious enclosure here for them.
“They know all the best places to hide – but a rattle of a sultana bag usually gets them over.”
A personal highlight of the visit was getting to know two macaw parrots – three-year-old hiacynth Neiva and her vociferous feathered companion, blue-and-gold Harry.
While Neiva clasped her claws around my hand, Harry seized every opportunity to show off for our cameras, flaunting his impressive golden wingspan and shouting ‘hello!’ as I spoke to bird-handler Heather Ahern.
She said: “We’re not exactly sure how old Harry is, because he actually used to be a pet.
“Neiva was bred at London Zoo, and has been brought over to be a part of our bird demonstrations over here.”
Friendly Harry merrily laughed on request for everyone except myself, but upon realising he may not have understood my north Manchester accent – and reverted to something vaguely resembling the Queen’s English – he cackled away in response.
In retrospect, he was most likely laughing at me.
Born last autumn, three-month-old Scott is the smallest amongst a group of nine trunked juggernauts in the Asian elephant enclosure.
The playful pachyderm whippersnapper wandered from the otherwise regimented herd to inspect a grid while we gushed from close range over how small he was in comparison to his parents.
Having said that, at birth Scott was heavier than the average scrum-half – weighing in at more than 16 stone!
The stick insect was right – we had a very enjoyable morning at Whipsnade’s census, and I’m sure the animals did too.
Covering 600 acres, Whipsnade Zoo is one of Europe’s biggest wildlife conservation parks, and at the last count was home to 6,405 animals.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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